Earthquake

Thousands of students, residents and employees throughout the county will take part Nov. 13 in the Great Southern California Shake-Out, the largest earthquake preparedness drill in history. The event will simulate a response to a magnitude 7.8 earthquake on the south side of the San Andreas Fault, which experts say could kill hundreds and injure thousands. At 10:30 a.m., participants will “Drop, Cover and Hold On” while radio and television stations broadcast an emergency alert system.

The City Council on Monday will discuss a multimillion-dollar retrofit of City Hall aimed at getting the aging building up to federal earthquake standards. Former City Administrator Penny Culbreth-Graft said last year that the floors of City Hall that house her office and those of the council members would “pancake” in a big enough earthquake. The council will be given several choices Monday on what to pay for, with costs ranging from $7,748,602 to $8,268,274. The more expensive options are mostly cosmetic, hiding bracing that would otherwise be in plain sight, according to city officials.

A magnitude-5.4 earthquake that rocked Southern California caused little or no damage in Huntington Beach, local authorities said. The Chino Hills-centered temblor occurred at 11:42 a.m., according to a preliminary earthquake report from the Caltech Seismic Net website. Authorities said few emergency calls came in as a result. The earthquake, originally estimated at 5.8, was felt in Huntington Beach, approximately 25 miles from the epicenter. The quake was 7.6 miles deep. No injuries or property damage was reported in Huntington Beach as of 12:15 p.m., according to Battalion Chief David McBride of the Huntington Beach Fire Department.

The big one hit Huntington Beach. There is chaos everywhere, people are hurt and dying, and there isn’t enough emergency personnel to go around — help isn’t going to come for at least 72 hours How are you going to survive? Survival was the name of the game at the Community Emergency Response Teams (CERT) Disaster First Aid class Saturday. More than 100 citizens came out for the second of four training classes CERT offers a year. The program is a Federal Emergency Management Agency-endorsed training series created in Huntington Beach in 1991 to teach community members how to take care of themselves, their families and their neighbors until the authorities can get to them in the event of a major disaster, said Judy Ann Morris, CERT board president.

Seventh-graders at the Pegasus School in Huntington Beach ended the academic year with much more than lessons from textbooks. They gave less fortunate students in another country the gift of an education. The students spent the entire academic year working with a team of three other schools from around the country — Texas, Massachusetts and Hollywood — to raise funds and rebuild a school in Haiti, said Jim Conti, social studies teacher at Pegasus. Elie Dubois School in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, is one of many schools that were destroyed by last year's devastating earthquake.

Hours after I suggested that an earthquake in our area could have the same type of aftermath as hurricane, the Los Angeles Times ran a couple of articles supporting this opinion. One of them compared the 1906 San Francisco earthquake with the effects of Hurricane Katrina and found many similarities: death and destruction, obviously, but also looting, mayhem and fires. The fires, in fact, were responsible for the widespread destruction of the city.

Jenny Marder When Sharzhad Behzadpour thinks of Bam, she remembers the smell of orange blossoms in the spring. She remembers tangerine groves, the palm trees that lined the city's five main roads and the 2,000-year-old citadel. But Bam is no longer the city of her memories. Behzadpour, now a Huntington Beach resident, lost 180 family members in the earthquake that flattened the ancient Iranian city on Dec. 26. As many as 35,000 are believed to have died in the quake, which struck the city in Southeast Iran, measuring 6.7 on the Richter scale.

Ellen McCarty FOUNTAIN VALLEY -- In many cultures, eclipses are believed to be omens of great change. Resident Dr. Colleen Fitzpatrick didn't realize how much the eclipse would shake up her recent visit to Turkey to view it, but she's thanking her lucky stars that she survived the Aug. 17 earthquake. Every few years, Fitzpatrick makes a pilgrimage to view an eclipse from its shadow edge, where the sun's border appears florescent pink, she said.

Huntington Beach may not be anywhere near New Jersey, but it shares one potential danger — the coast. After witnessing the devastating effects of Hurricane Sandy, Robinwood Church in Huntington Beach wants residents prepared for an earthquake or other disaster. Robinwood is hosting an earthquake and disaster presentation from 9:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Jan. 12 at the church. The American Red Cross, the Orange County Fire Authority and Huntington Beach Community Emergency Response Team (CERT)

Huntington Beach may not be anywhere near New Jersey, but it shares one potential danger — the coast. After witnessing the devastating effects of Hurricane Sandy, Robinwood Church in Huntington Beach wants residents prepared for an earthquake or other disaster. Robinwood is hosting an earthquake and disaster presentation from 9:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Jan. 12 at the church. The American Red Cross, the Orange County Fire Authority and Huntington Beach Community Emergency Response Team (CERT)

Seventh-graders at the Pegasus School in Huntington Beach ended the academic year with much more than lessons from textbooks. They gave less fortunate students in another country the gift of an education. The students spent the entire academic year working with a team of three other schools from around the country — Texas, Massachusetts and Hollywood — to raise funds and rebuild a school in Haiti, said Jim Conti, social studies teacher at Pegasus. Elie Dubois School in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, is one of many schools that were destroyed by last year's devastating earthquake.

Debbie Depin deals in first aid kits, emergency water pouches and solar blankets. Survival supplies are Depin's livelihood, but that doesn't stop her from giving them away. The longtime Huntington Beach resident partnered with Giving Children Hope — a nonprofit Christian organization in Buena Park that assists children locally and internationally — to donate survival kits, food and personal-hygiene items to Haiti and Chile after both countries were struck by powerful earthquakes.

The big one hit Huntington Beach. There is chaos everywhere, people are hurt and dying, and there isn’t enough emergency personnel to go around — help isn’t going to come for at least 72 hours How are you going to survive? Survival was the name of the game at the Community Emergency Response Teams (CERT) Disaster First Aid class Saturday. More than 100 citizens came out for the second of four training classes CERT offers a year. The program is a Federal Emergency Management Agency-endorsed training series created in Huntington Beach in 1991 to teach community members how to take care of themselves, their families and their neighbors until the authorities can get to them in the event of a major disaster, said Judy Ann Morris, CERT board president.

A week after a devastating earthquake in Haiti killed countless people, aid from local Orange County groups is starting to make its way to the island. Huntington Beach will hold a fundraiser lunch at Zach’s at Pier Plaza from noon to 4 p.m. Sunday, said Councilman Joe Carchio. Zach’s will serve a pasta lunch and take donations for Haiti. “Hopefully, we’ll raise the funds that we need to help in some small way to alleviate the pain,” Carchio said.

Thousands of students, residents and employees throughout the county will take part Nov. 13 in the Great Southern California Shake-Out, the largest earthquake preparedness drill in history. The event will simulate a response to a magnitude 7.8 earthquake on the south side of the San Andreas Fault, which experts say could kill hundreds and injure thousands. At 10:30 a.m., participants will “Drop, Cover and Hold On” while radio and television stations broadcast an emergency alert system.

A magnitude-5.4 earthquake that rocked Southern California caused little or no damage in Huntington Beach, local authorities said. The Chino Hills-centered temblor occurred at 11:42 a.m., according to a preliminary earthquake report from the Caltech Seismic Net website. Authorities said few emergency calls came in as a result. The earthquake, originally estimated at 5.8, was felt in Huntington Beach, approximately 25 miles from the epicenter. The quake was 7.6 miles deep. No injuries or property damage was reported in Huntington Beach as of 12:15 p.m., according to Battalion Chief David McBride of the Huntington Beach Fire Department.

Vic and I have a growing file of small items to talk about, so today we’re going to run through a few of them. First and most importantly, we read recently that the Mills Land and Water Company reportedly has been accused of grading, fencing and partially paving a delineated wetland area near the Cabrillo Mobile Home Park along Pacific Coast Highway between Beach Boulevard and Newland Street. If this is true, what were they thinking? Mills should know in fine detail what it can and cannot do. Years of litigation between Mills and public agencies over this land finally came to an end a couple of years ago with a comprehensive settlement.

The City Council voted unanimously to save their own skins — almost literally. The council voted 7-0 Monday to accept a bid and choose a plan to shore up City Hall against earthquakes, as the building was not up to federal standards. They rejected a couple of cheaper alternatives that would have left a huge concrete wall and structural bracing visible to passersby. The roughly $8.2 million price was cheaper than the first round of bids the council rejected in August, which started at about $9.5 million.